Edclub Typing: Results

 

On the 7th this month I started using Edclub’s Typing Jungle, an educational package for computer use that includes a typing program. I’ve just had a good bash at this before the Commonwealth Games started. 

I very steadily worked through the lessons but made the mistake of not making an account. This meant every time I closed the browser, I lost my place and started from lesson 1 again. There is a placement test that you can take to see which level you should start at, but no matter how much I progressed through the month, that test threw me back in at level 1 again. I’ve gone over the basics a LOT. 

The plan was to beat my PB of 47 Words Per Minute. Pretty much straight away, the program showed my speed as reaching 72WPM. I think this was a fluke, or a glitch in the system. I dunno. But I kept tapping through it to see if I could get anything like that again. I worked the lessons a step at a time, learning the basics and which specific keys each finger goes to. I felt like I was getting better, not looking at the keyboard as much. But my speeds were nowhere near as good, hitting 40 usually. 

The lessons are interspersed with fun, colourful typing games to keep you motivated and to test your ability. The only other issue was the placement of the backslash key, which is pretty much at the opposite end of my keyboard from where the program suggested. 

Eventually it occurred to me to make an account, meaning I could save my progress and carry on where I left off… right as I hit the deadline. 

Well, I gave it a shot. There are a thousand other things I want to do now. Hopefully writing up future events will take a little less time.

The Art of Seduction

 

During the pandemic I read The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene, a researcher by trade who’d worked in the publishing industry. The book itself was, as you’d expect, very well researched. Full of real-life historical examples from all over the world and from a wide range of time periods, 48 Laws puts forward this series of rules for attaining power. It describes how to enact them, and what pitfalls await when you transgress them. 

I started to notice these laws had been applied by managers over the years. I figured Greene might be onto something. He may not be a psychologist / sociologist himself, but he seems well-versed in the area. I whipped through it in a few weeks. 

Greene may not be a business owner, nor a psychologist, but he’s a good researcher with incredible worldwide historical knowledge. He also seems to understand people, one of the key skills that can move you forward in any sphere in life. Delving into his bibliography, I noticed he’d written The Art of Seduction. I really wanted to see what his take was in particular. How strong was Greene’s game? 

I eventually bought it in January 2025. This book was the same size as The 48 Laws – around 450 big pages with small text – and I hammered through the first one really quickly, so surely… 

This time, the book started to feel like a huge slog instead of a rollercoaster of human behaviour. The level of detail seemed so intense and so broad, that it was difficult to imagine how to apply the stories to my own life: especially when the examples range from Prince Albert courting Queen Victoria in 1800s England, and Casanova rampaging through 1700s Europe. How does this apply to a 40-something clumsy bachelor stumbling through overpriced cocktail bars in contemporary Manchester? I really had to work hard to pluck out the specific advice being dished out within the stories. 

This gets even harder when Greene uses biblical passages and passes them off as fact. Also, Greene questionably celebrates some eyebrow-raising individuals. Revered seducer Casanova courted a 17-year-old when he was 21. (But then, look who’s talking. Didn’t I?) A lengthy passage celebrates renowned seducer and actor Erroll Flynn, who in 1942 was tried for the statutory rape of a 17-year-old and a 15-year-old. (He was acquitted, but still.) Along with cocaine addiction, malaria and tuberculosis, Flynn was much more of a mess than his heroic Hollywood image would suggest. 

The examples tend to come from people who are either fictional or already dead. There are no interviews with living, contemporary renowned seducers. There are no references to Neil Strauss (author of The Game) or David DeAngelo (of Double Your Dating) or any other big names in that field. An interview with someone like Billy Bob Thornton – successful actor but regular looking bloke – would have been highly insightful, seeing as he bagged Tomb Raider herself Angelina Jolie, and had her visibly hanging off his every word.

 

Smattered through the weighty book, there are moments of genuine insight about keeping things light-hearted, keeping an environment close knit, avoiding hesitancy or familiarity, and essentially avoiding fretting over yourself by focussing your attention on the other person. There are nuggets that are genuinely helpful, I guess to both genders. 

Essentially, though, the book is lacking that modern-day, real-world relevance. How can I use this smorgasbord of advice when I’m stood in a swanky cocktail bar in Manchester talking to a semi drunk girl who I can hardly hear over the bass? How exactly do you ‘use a spiritual lure’ in a journaling event in a vegan restaurant? There are no breakdowns of different environments – the workplace, the club, the gym or other sports groups, the high street – all of which, I gather, need different approaches. 

In essence, the book reads more like a history of seduction attempts – fictional and factual - rather than an actual how-to guide. A lot of hard work (I spent about a year and a half reading it) for little payoff.

Commonwealth Games Fit

Glasgow once again host the Commonwealth Games. This time, the BBC have only got limited rights, and apparently are only being shown on their Scottish Alba service. BBC say ‘Alba is to screen nightly live coverage and highlights throughout the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games.’ Great if you’re in Scotland. Looks like we can watch it on iPlayer. Not sure there’ll be subtitles over the Gaelic, though. 

Thankfully Channel 5 is to show 2 hours of highlights. Sounds pretty shit, as a lot of what makes the games good is watching people progress through the heats to the finals, in some unusual sports that we don’t normally get to see. 

My plan was to beat as many chin-up and dip records as I could while watching the games, and once again try to get my weight down to hit the revered 72.2kg target. I’m currently 84.9. Sometimes I’m free during the day, sometimes at night. But if all we’re getting is highlights, it’s rarely going to be on when I’m ready to watch. When it is, it’s not going to take long to watch through that. So… 

I’ve got 3 films and a series left on my Netflix watchlist, then I’m going to cancel. I’ve got a ton of Blu-Rays and DVDs to get through. Skipping, chin-ups, dips and a few gym classes, plus a good clean diet, should sharpen me up. By the end of the closing ceremony in the evening of 2nd August, I plan to be fitter physically and mentally, and I expect England will be taking home a ton of metalware too. 

All this kicks off tonight at 8pm.

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Commonwealth Games starts Weds

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This touchtyping project comes to a close on Wednesday. Made some progress. 

The 2026 Commonwealth Games starts Wednesday 23rd. I’ve got a fitness project that I’m going to do in conjunction with that. More to come. 

Saturday: Comic Con Manchester returns to Bowlers Exhibition Centre in Manchester for 2 days of stalls, movie stars, photo ops, Q+A panels and cosplay. I’m looking forward to meeting Carrie Henn – Newt off Aliens – and Bill Duke – Mac off Predator and Cook off Commando. This will be my third attempt to meet him – looks like he’s actually turning up this time. It’s gonna be great. There’s a meetup with Manc Mates with a couple of people signed up. Saturday has sold out, though, so they’ve either bought their tickets or they haven’t. 

No plans for the evening.

Super Simple Salmon

From Rukmini Iyer’s The Roasting Tin: Super Simple Salmon a’ la Pesto with Giant Cous Cous, Watercress and Lemon. 

I knew I already had pesto in my fridge, but what I didn’t know was that it went out of date in 2021. Suffice to say, I binned it and had to substitute it with garlic and herb sauce from Aldi. Innovate to masticate. Turned out quite nice, although I forgot to pour on the lemon juice at the end. Should have been 25 mins, took me 65. 

I didn’t feel like I’d properly succeeded with the recipe, and I’m not one to be defeated by a cookbook, so I made a second attempt. This turned out possibly more disastrous than the first: I finally found some pesto, only to find that salmon fillets were then out of stock. I substituted it with a couple of trout instead. I’ve cooked with these before and they were delicious, so surely… 

This time I made the error of cutting the lemons before grating the zest off. Hard work. At least I had actual pesto this time. It occurred to me, halfway through cooking, I could simply have gone to another supermarket to look for more salmon. There are 3 places near me. This time the whole prep and cook took 58 mins. 

Verdict: disaster. Trout might be a good fish for certain recipes but this combination just didn’t work. I ate a small amount and binned the rest. Grim. 

Hence, I made *inhales* a THIRD attempt, this time with a good portion of salmon fillet that was much bigger than asked for. While assembling the ingredients I realised I’d actually used up the last of the couscous, so went back to Tesco as I knew they’d definitely have it in stock (no matter how dear it is, which even with a Clubcard, is dear enough). Then I started again. 

The process was getting easier. I definitely had all the ingredients *this* time; the process went smoothly and the finished meal was much nicer. 

‘Super simple…’ if the supermarkets allow it to be.

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Workout in the Park?

 

A little different this week – summer weather means it’s worth doing daytime activities rather than 2am bar crawls. I figured, why not something more healthy and outdoor? 

We’ve got a new park in Manchester. We could utilise Mayfield Park for an outdoor workout session, get some vit D and serotonin in while we have the chance, then get soft drinks and a bit of food to replenish. I’ve set up a meetup on Manc Mates, a group I took over a while ago, which I use for non-nightlife related events. It’s quite different to what I’d normally do, so feels like a bit of a risk. Also I’m not a PT. I’m just a guy who works out. Just wondered if people wanted to do that with me. 12pm on Sunday. 

In other news, looks like this 4-month bot surge on the Blogger platform is over. At one point I got nearly 28k views in a single day. More recently I got 700. Still. I hit 2.8 million overall hits recently.

Heat and Memory - the Pitfalls

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Heat is a killer, as we know. British people are unprepared for bouts of overly warm, muggy weather like that we’ve experienced in recent weeks. Neurodivergents – people who have a condition affecting their brain that makes them different from ‘neurotypical’ people – have added stresses. Systems we had in place to get by might need modifying. 

In my case, I’ve gone out and bought factor 50 sun lotion, as anything lower just won’t protect me. (My skin tone isn’t connected to neurological issues, but it’s taken me 40-odd years to realise I can’t go below factor 50.) Over the last few weeks, I’ve been out in the garden, reading and working out. I still forgot to reapply and still got burned. I’ve got memory difficulties from an Acquired Brain Injury. I have my systems to stay organised, but no system is perfect, is it? 

Take last weekend, for example. My sister’s wedding in Yorkshire. I wrote out an inventory of everything I’d need for the 2 nights, including what I was going to wear at certain points. Then I tried to pack it all. The first thing I realised once I got to the first venue – the registry office – is that I’d left a blazer to one of the suits at my mum’s house. No biggie – it was that warm that nobody could handle wearing blazers anyway. 

I jotted a few extended family names and relations into my Omninotes app. 

We went for food. We’d already chosen our meals, and I’d noted what I’d ordered in my calendar. 

Later that day, when we got to the hotel, I realised I’d forgotten my phone charger. I remember looking at it when packing, thinking, I’ll unplug that in a mo and throw it in the bag. Then I never did. Thankfully, Mum had a spare. 

I typed my room number – and parents’ room number - into Omninotes. I needed an early night after that. 

Saturday morning: pollen count was high. I could feel it in the room. I realised that although I’d got my hayfever tablets, I’d forgotten eyedrops and nasal spray, despite them being on the inventory. 

I hit the hotel gym and realised I’d forgotten my drawstring bag with weight gloves inside. I don't think they were on the list. 

Later that day, getting ready for the wedding itself, I realised I’d forgotten cufflinks (also not on the list). Reception didn’t have any spare. I rolled up the sleeves, keeping the build-up thin so it didn’t show too much under the blazer. Looked fine when I took the blazer off later anyway. 

After the ceremony, according to correlating notes and pictures, I had a Fireball Mule cocktail - my first alcohol in 2 months - and had pie and peas from a vendor. Later that evening, cheesy chips. 

Relatives were asking me if there’s a girl on the scene. Well, twist the knife as per, why don’t you. They’re all good people though. Lots of other things happened, parts of which I made notes on, but they weren’t necessarily about me. 

My dad dropped his phone somewhere- we found it the next day by dialling and hearing it ring under a sofa seat. Good job the battery held out. 

When I got home I realised I still had the hotel door key card, so mailed that back to them once I was in work. 

A lot of errors happened due to the heat, a lot due to a break in my routine. Weekends away are key times when I’m likely to forget one thing or another, even with a check list. 

Brilliant weekend, all in all.